I'm sure you know than it was your grandstanding on this issue (especially after the CA Supreme Court decision) that provided fodder for the opposition, and galvanized their base.
I live in San Francisco and have followed your career before and during your tenure in City Hall. I did support you in 2007 during all the controversy surrounding your private life; I (along with many other city residents) urged the media to respect your privacy and not engage in tabloid journalism with such delicate personal matters.
I cringed however every time I saw that "whether you like it or not" clip... and I remember seeing you say this live. You didn't think that maybe in an election year you should have toned it down a bit? Maybe appear humble and conciliatory, instead of condescending? Unfortunately, I believe you did this intentionally; this is not the first time you pulled a stunt like this during a Presidential election year.
Republicans here in the city and across Northern California where rubbing their hands with glee, when in 2004 (another election year) you decided to start issuing marriage licenses to gay men and women As a result you brought the delicate issue of gay marriage in the national spotlight at the most inopportune time. Don't you have better things to do during Presidential election years? I voted "No on 8", and I support gay rights as much as anyone, but I'm also a pragmatist.
What you did in 2004 probably cost John Kerry the State of Ohio.
Your image and the marriage licenses you were issuing that year made it to all kinds of Bush-Cheney TV ads in Ohio and you know what? They struck a chord. Bush won the state.
[W]ith his party reeling from Senator John Kerry's defeat on Tuesday, Mr. Newsom's decision in February to open City Hall to thousands of gay weddings has become a subject of considerable debate among Democrats.
Some in the party were suggesting even before the election that Mr. Newsom had played into President Bush's game plan by inviting a showdown on the divisive same-sex-marriage issue.
Most of the talk has been behind closed doors. But when Senator Dianne Feinstein, a fellow Democrat and Newsom supporter, answered a question about the subject at a news conference outside her San Francisco home on Wednesday, the prickly discussion spilled into the open.
"I believe it did energize a very conservative vote," Ms. Feinstein said of the same-sex marriages here. "I think it gave them a position to rally around. I'm not casting a value judgment. I'm just saying I do believe that's what happened."
Was it really that tough for you to figure out that some people in Appalachia and other rural areas in the Midwest would not be not as open minded or enlightened on the issue of gay rights as we are here in SF?
Plenty of Democrats (including one Barney Frank) were already worried about this starting in February of 2004.
"What Mayor Newsom has done in San Francisco ... has in fact energized and motivated those who support marriage between one man and one woman," Mathew Staver, president of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, told the Los Angeles Times in the wake of Bush's decision on Tuesday.
That's supposedly why Rep. Barney Frank warned Newsom against his bold move. (Ammiano shakes his head at Frank's judgment. "That's Barney -- so Beltway-centric!") But Democrats all over the country have been telling the new mayor that the only person happier than the gay newlyweds is Karl Rove, who will now be able to run a campaign about the Democrats' degradation of marriage, rather than unpleasant issues like the jobless recovery, the massive budget deficit and the Iraq debacle. And the debate is sure to rage on: Will San Francisco's Winter of Love make it easier for Republicans to hold onto the White House next November?
Bush, Cheney and the RNC knew how divisive this issue would be, and played the fear mongering card perfectly. What was the result? Karl Rove managed to maximize rural Republican turnout in Ohio, Ken Blackwell lent a helping hand, and Ohio went red. We now have John Roberts and Samuel Alito in the Supreme Court thanks to that election.
Why didn't Barack Obama want to be seen or photographed with you in 2004?
You seriously couldn't have waited to issue those marriage licenses until mid-November 2004? A few months? Why didn't you take up this cause in 2003? Was being in the limelight during that election season so important to you? Have you ever seen a TV camera you didn't like? Of course Willie Brown should've taken the lead on this issue even before you came to City Hall, but that's another topic for another time.
A dose of humility and pragmatism would serve you well Mayor Newsom. Please think long and hard next time before you sabotage gay rights, and the Democratic Party through this kind of mindless and self-serving political theater.
And if you think that after all this you can beat Jerry Brown in the gubernatorial primary... maybe you need another reality check.